For the Love of the Father
by Smitty91
Summary: Sometimes our actions speak louder than our words. Sometimes said actions send the wrong messages to our children and those children need to be reminded that, even in the darkest of times, their parents still love and care about them.


For the Love of the Father

**A/N: I just got done watching Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked with my mom and little sisters. Let me just say this about the movie: I don't know about any of you, but I felt my heart drop (not literally, mind you) when the following exchange was shared between Alvin and Brittany: **

**BRITTANY: Anyhoo, no reason we can't be comfortable and stylish while we wait for Dave to show up, right? **

**ALVIN: Brit, I . . . I think I know why Dave hasn't come? **

**BRITTANY: You do? Why? **

**ALVIN: 'Cause he's not even looking. **

**BRITTANY: Alvin, why wouldn't he be looking for us? **

**ALVIN: Because I drive him crazy. You know, the way Simon's been driving me crazy? I mean, That's what I've been doing to Dave. For years. No wonder he hates me. **

**BRITTANY: Oh! Don't worry, Alvin. I'm sure Dave will come. He certainly loves Simon and Theodore. **

**I actually gave a grown of sadness upon this piece of dialogue. I really didn't like this scene because of this dialogue. It was just really depressing. I just wanted to reach through the screen, grab Alvin, and give him the biggest hug possible! The look on the little guy's face looked like he was in desperate need of a warm, fatherly hug. Absolutely no child whatsoever should ever feel like their parent/guardian hates them! I see a parent's love for their child very much like God's love for us: No matter how much hell you put them through or how many times they mess up, you still love them, and the child needs to most importantly be reminded of that during the times when they mess up. Yelling and screaming at your kid for doing something wrong makes them feel like you don't want them around. My stepfather has even said to his own kids that he would have no problem leaving us. I don't know about the rest of you, but this scene reminded me of my stories "A Father's Love is Everlasting" and "Better Off Alone." My other complaint was that Brittany's line, "He certainly loves Simon and Thedoore," didn't particularly help matters. I actually yelled at the screen, "That doesn't help!" I'm sure this was done for comic relief, but such an act seemed extremely inappropriate during this scene. Also, if you watch this scene you can clearly see Theodore just below them. This tiny tidbit gave me a spark of inspiration for this short story, a story similar to "A Father's Love is Everlasting," but hopefully will not have too many similarities.**

**My other complaint about this film (don't get me wrong, I don't actually hate it) is Ian. It seems the character had two sides to him in this movie. One is this evil, revenge-seeking bad guy and the other is this sentimental good guy. I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to like Ian or not. During the heartwarming moment between him and Dave when he says that Dave is good with Chipmunks, I turned to my mom and asked, "Are you sure he didn't get bit by a spider?" Ian actually appeared to be human in this scene. Speaking of Ian, David Cross (the actor who plays the role) is quoted as saying that making Chipwrecked was the worst experience of his career, so I'm guessing that he will NOT be back for a sequel. Yes, it is rumored that they are currently making a fourth one, and it is also rumored that two sequels to **_**The Smurfs **_**are in the works, the first of which is set to be released the summer of next year. Considering the fact that David Cross was in a giant bird suit in 90+ degree weather, I honestly can blame him for vehemently bashing his experience making the film. **

**I didn't much care for Zoe either. Her character was quite misleading. My mother went as far as to call her "a psychotic bitch." The whole side story of the treasure didn't really go anywhere at all. I feel like the writers just used that as a plot device just to give the characters something to do to keep them busy and make the movie drag on longer during the end sequence. However, I did like the idea of Jeanette stuffing her cheeks. Fans of my work will know that I love writing weight gain/force-feeding scenes. Unfortunately, Jeanette was busy stuffing her cheeks with treasure, not food (insert sad face here). Yes, I know, I am very messed up in the head. I don't need Marsha Kerr to remind me of that.**

**Okay, that's enough from me. Sorry, guys. I just saw the film today and wanted to put in my own two cents about the film. I thought you guys might be interested in knowing what I thought of it. On with the story.**

"_Daddy's always here for you_

_Daddy's always here for you_

_And anything that you go through_

_Just remember, I love you_

_Daddy's gonna love you_

_No matter what you go through"_

(KJ-52, "Always Here for You")

"_Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. Everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that does not love does not know God. God is love. _

_The love that God has for us was manifested by God when He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we may live. Herein is love, not because we loved God, but because He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins. Beloved, if God loved us so much, we should also love one another."_

(1 John 4:7-11)

"_There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear because love involves torment. He that lives in fear is not made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If a man says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar. If he that does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? This commandment we have received from him, 'If you love God, love your brother also.'" _

(1 John 4:18-21)

Something was bothering Alvin. Simon, more so than the others, was convinced of this, being that Alvin hadn't been acting like himself as of late. The only problem was that Simon couldn't pinpoint what was troubling Alvin. He thought about maybe asking Alvin what was wrong, but knew that Alvin wouldn't tell him. Alvin wasn't exactly the talkative type when it came to talking about his feelings. Then again, Alvin hadn't been very talkative as of late. In fact, it seemed as if he had gone completely mute. Maybe Alvin was depressed.

Alvin had to be depressed. The red-clad chipmunk had been complaining about having trouble sleeping at night and his appetite seemed to be insatiable. Whenever he wasn't at school or working on schoolwork, the chipmunk was in the kitchen constantly eating, surprisingly eating more than Theodore or Eleanor in one sitting. The chipmunk was putting on more and more pounds at a nightmarish rate, so much to the point where Dave was about ready to schedule a doctor's appointment for the red-clad chipmunk to make sure that something wasn't seriously wrong with him.

Alvin's feelings also seemed to be out of whack as well. Oftentimes Simon would wake up in the middle of the night to hear his older brother crying, a first sight for Simon since Alvin usually cried in private. However, whenever Simon worked up the courage to ask Alvin why he was crying in the first place, the red-clad chipmunk would suddenly lash out at him, demanding that his younger brother leave him alone and mind his own business. Other times Alvin appeared to have immense amounts of trouble with his anger. Simon remembered one morning when he and the others were having breakfast before going off to school, talking amongst themselves, only to be interrupted by an extremely loud, irritated Alvin shouting, "God, shut up! Everybody, just shut the fuck up!" Then again, the red-clad chipmunk had started rubbing his temples afterward, so it was quite possible that the chipmunk hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night and had an unpleasant headache and he simply wanted some peace and quiet being having to go to school for seven hours to hear teachers drone on and on about subjects that he didn't two cents about.

Simon was at the end of his rope about what to do concerning Alvin's behavior. It wasn't healthy for his older brother to be losing his temper and crying the way he was, and it certainly wasn't healthy for him to be binge eating the way he had been, although gorging himself seemed to make him happy, as if having a very distended belly didn't make him happy already. Having quite a large, round posterior also seemed to lift his spirits. Where this sudden fascination with weight gain had sprung up from, Simon didn't know, but what he did know was that he didn't like how Alvin was constantly putting himself down as of late, telling himself that he was nothing more than "a troublemaker" and that perhaps everyone else would be better off without him. Simon wasn't certain, but he thought that maybe Alvin was contemplating suicide. After all, his brother had always done extreme things to get attention. Maybe that was what he was doing now. Maybe his older brother just needed some extra attention and he was simply behaving quite uncharacteristically to achieve it.

But the kicker was the fact that Alvin was actually doing more around the house, "trying to be more responsible," as he called it. Simon had caught Alvin uttering the phrase, "So Dave will love me," underneath his breath a time or two. At first, he had shrugged it off as nothing more than Alvin just trying to get sympathy. That is, until he asked Theodore what he thought could be wrong with their brother, and Theodore had issued a surprisingly depressing piece of information to Simon. Simon remembered the day quite fondly . . .

It had been just like any other day. Eleanor was in the kitchen feeding Alvin a jar of olive's for the chipmunk's amusement. The last Simon had seen of them, Alvin had been encouraging the blond Chipette to stuff as many olives in his mouth as possible, just to see how many his cheeks could contain. Brittany had been upstairs in the bathroom busily giving Jeanette a makeover for her date with Simon later that evening. Simon was strolling about the home, his mind filled with worry about Alvin when he happened to stumble upon Theodore, who was busy watching television in the living room. Not to Simon's surprise, his younger brother was busy watching a cartoon, but couldn't help but chuckle upon seeing the cartoon that Theodore was watching: _SpongeBob SquarePants_, one of his favorites. Simon had planned out how he would go about obtaining information from Theodore: He would sit down beside Theodore and start by making polite conversation and then slide into the topic of what was troubling Alvin.

Simon pulled himself up onto the couch and turned around, facing the television before sitting down and scooting over towards Theodore. The green-clad chipmunk's eyes were practically glued to the television screen, for he didn't even move an inch as Simon approached him at a slow but gentle pace. Despite that the episode being aired was an episode that they had seen multiple times before, Simon knew that it would be hard for him to detach Theodore's attention from the screen in order to talk to him. As his body rubbed against Theodore's, the chubby chipmunk jumped. Compared to Alvin as of late, the chubby chipmunk looked rather slim.

Theodore's head jerked to the right upon feeling something come into contact with his body, only to smile as he saw Simon's furry face and the glasses that appeared to be too big for his face. "Oh, hi, Simon."

Simon gestured towards the television screen, trying to drag out the topic of what was ailing Alvin as long as possible. He didn't want to start off the conversation with a topic that was uncomfortable for the both of them. "What're you watching?' He scooted closer to his brother, not that such was possible being that they were as close to each other as they could possibly get. He rested a paw on his brother's shoulder, allowing his gaze to fall on the yellow sponge walking gaily down the street towards the Krusty Krab, his place of payment.

"Cartoons," Theodore replied.

Simon let out a quiet sigh. Polite conversation was getting him nowhere. _Ah, screw it, _he thought, _might as well get right to the point. _"Theodore, I'm worried about Alvin. You wouldn't happen to know what might be bothering him, would you?"

Theodore sighed dejectedly and, to Simon's surprise, turned off the television by pressing his foot against the power button on the remote, then turned so that his full attention was on his older brother. "Actually, Simon, I think I know what might be bothering Alvin. It was back on the island and . . ."

_Theodore strolled along the floor of the jungle, paws stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie while he observed the nature around him, nothing particularly on his mind. He was simply walking around since, being on a deserted island, he had nothing better to do. He kicked a half-eaten mango across the jungle floor. Despite his small foot, the mango rolled quite a ways before coming to a complete stop. He himself suddenly came to a stop as he heard voices up above him. _

"_Anyhoo," Brittany said," no reason we can't be comfortable and stylish while we wait for Dave to show up, right? _

_Alvin sighed. "Brit, I . . . I think I know why Dave hasn't come?" _

_Brittany turned to her counterpart, surprise evident on her face. " You do? Why?" _

"'_Cause he's not even looking." _

" _Alvin, why wouldn't he be looking for us?" _

" _Because I drive him crazy. You know, the way Simon's been driving me crazy? I mean, that's what I've been doing to Dave. For years. No wonder he hates me." _

"_Oh! Don't worry, Alvin. I'm sure Dave will come. He certainly loves Simon and Theodore." _

_Alvin's face fell and he slowly turned to his counterpart. _

_Brittany's face fell as well and she put a paw to her mouth upon seeing the depressed expression on Alvin's face. "Oh, that was the wrong thing to say, wasn't it?" _

_Alvin said nothing in response, but quickly turned away from her, his head hung down and his ears flattening against his head. While she couldn't see him, Brittany could tell that her counterpart was hurt, evidenced by the chipmunk's sniffling and heavy breathing. He reached up to wipe his nose, his paw becoming covered in snot while a stray tear ran down his face. _

_Feeling like he was in desperate need of some comfort, Brittany slowly reached out a paw to touch his shoulder. She walked forward, nuzzling her cheek with his, her tongue gently licking away the tear as it rolled down his cheek. She wrapped her arms around him, his chest heaving, an early sign that he was on the verge of crying. "Oh, Alvin," she said gently into his ear, "don't worry. I'm sure Dave loves you just as much." _

_Alvin let out a shuddering gasp, gulping down a soft whimper. He shook his head gloomily. "No, Brittany, he doesn't. Ex-"He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, dampening the fabric with the wetness of his tears while he sniffled once more, his chest heaving, his heart quickening in pace. "Excuse me, Brittany. I . . . I need some time to myself." He tore off out of the tree while Brittany called out his name, begging him to come back. _

_Theodore was knocked off his feet as Alvin sped past him, his ears being filled with Brittany's cries of, "Alvin! Alvin, wait! Come back!" The chubby chipmunk doubted if whether or not his older brother had even seen him. _

"It killed me inside," Theodore finished, glancing down at his feet. He wrapped his arms around himself, as if this would bring about some form of comfort. "I just . . . I felt so . . . sorry for him. I . . . I didn't know he felt that way."

At least now Simon had some idea of why Alvin had been acting so strange as of late, but it was still merely a hunch. Nothing had been confirmed by Alvin . . . yet. Still, Simon couldn't help but feel his own heart sink at Alvin's words: _"No wonder he hates me." _That single phrase reverberated over and over again in the chipmunk's head, like the phrase itself was a CD skipping repeatedly. No wonder Alvin had been feeling so depressed as of late. For some odd reason or another, his older brother was one hundred percent, without a doubt, fully convinced that their father figure hated him. Where on earth the chipmunk got this idea, Simon had absolutely no clue. After all, Dave didn't spank them, abuse them in any way, shape, or form. The man didn't believe in spanking and found the practice absolutely barbaric. Besides, it would be difficult to spank any one of them, given their small stature compared to Dave, who seemed more like a giant to them.

Simon patted Theodore's leg, giving it a firm squeeze and giving his younger brother a warm smile. "Thanks for the talk, Theodore."

"Anytime, Simon." Theodore felt his tail curl around his ankles, a feeling of sadness taking over him. He suddenly looked up just as Simon was leaving the room, a sudden spark of inspiration hitting him. "Hey, Simon!" He waited until his brother was facing him to press onward. "What if I tried talking with Alvin? Maybe he'd tell me what's going on?"

"I have a better idea," Simon decided, walking back in the room and hopping onto the couch. "Why don't we do an intervention sort of thing, let him let off a little steam, get some things off his chest? It could make him feel better. It'll just be you and me, and if that doesn't work we can always include the girls and Dave."

Theodore shook his head. "I don't know, Simon. Alvin's been avoiding Dave ever since we got back home from the international Music Awards. Putting them in the same room could-"

"I know," Simon interrupted, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as they slid downward, "but this is serious, Theodore. If we don't do something, Alvin could do something drastic, like suicide."

"What?" Theodore cried.

Simon cringed at this, instantly being reminded that with Theodore he had to choose his words wisely. "Don't worry, Alvin's not that impulsive. Besides, his weight gain would probably kill him first before he had a chance to kill himself."

"Simon, stop it!"

Simon mentally kicked himself for even uttering such a thought in Theodore's presence. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Theodore. Nothing bad is going to happen to Alvin, I promise. He's got us, remember? He just needs to realize that he has a loving family to back him up when he's up against the wall." He smiled and patted his brother's chubby cheeks. Compared to Alvin's they were only slightly rotund. "Don't worry. We're going to help him one way or the other."

"Well, the first thing on the list would be a proper diet." Here, Theodore let out a childish giggle.

Simon chuckled himself, rubbing his neck while he cast his gaze to the floor. "Yeah, he has gotten kind of fat lately."

"But the weird thing is," Theodore added, "I kind of like him this way. He looks cuter." He quickly added, "Not in _that _way, Simon," once he received a surprised look from his older brother. "It's just . . . I always thought he was a little skinny. I never thought a few extra pounds could hurt him."

"Well, he's still able to walk," Simon smiled, "just barely, though. Let me think up of a plan and get back to you." He hopped down to the floor and scurried off.

Right now Simon was standing on Dave's desk, the lamp above him providing him with a good source of light, his shadow projecting onto the paper in front of him, thus making it somewhat difficult to see. He tapped the marker in his paw, racking his walnut-sized brain to figure out what would be the best tactic for Alvin. A diet was out of the question. The once athletic chipmunk clearly wasn't going on a diet any time soon. Perhaps he'd been binge eating for so long he'd developed an addiction, for which he would have to be administered to a rehabilitation center until he got over it. The chipmunk had developed an extremely strong affection for junk food and sweets. Hardly ever did he eat anything healthy, not that he had before, mind you.

_Ugh, this is harder than I thought, _Simon pondered, letting out an audible growl of frustration. Scowling at the paper in front of him, he angrily crumbled it up and added it to the large pile of papers below him, opting for a clean sheet of notebook paper, viciously ripping it out from the notebook beside him and setting it in front of him. He relaxed his face, reaching up to rub his tired eyes while he let out a soft yawn. Glancing to his left he saw that it was nearly two-thirty in the morning. Had he really been up for that long? Had he really been going at this thing for over two hours? Surely the clock must have been broken. The last time he had checked it had been at eight-forty. He'd come up to Dave's study shortly after dinner, with Dave's permission of course, only stating that it was of great importance that he use the room, while Alvin had busied himself with scarfing down yet another helping of lasagna, his fur becoming stained with tomato sauce his cheeks while his cheeks had become stuffed beyond capacity with food.

Sighing, Simon pulled on the chain, shutting off the lamp. However, it probably would have been better if he had left it on until he reached the floor and had simply unplugged it. As he turned to hop down to the chair below him he hadn't bothered to let his eyes adjust, thus causing him to tumble forward as he had collided with one of the armrests and was sent crashing onto the cold hardwood floor. He let out a groan as he pulled himself up, readjusting his glasses in the process, taking an agonizingly long time to look over his body to make sure that nothing was broken or fractured. Upon confirming that he was fine (just in a great deal of pain) he stumbled towards the door, easing it upon easily as it had been left ajar for his convenience, instantly flooding the room with light which came from the bathroom, just in case Dave or anyone else needed to use the facilities in the middle of the night. The usual recipients for this ritual were either Theodore or Eleanor or Jeanette. Alvin, Brittany, and Simon himself could easily wait until morning. As of late, Alvin hadn't been doing so quite as easily since he seemed to be having trouble controlling his bladder at nighttime, evidenced by the fact that he had been wetting the bed for quite some time. While Simon was convinced that this was merely due to stress, he wasn't about to rule out that Alvin may or may not have had a medical condition that was causing it, although he'd never heard of someone suddenly wetting the bed out of nowhere. Still, he was convinced that Alvin's bedwetting troubles were simply due to stress, or it could have been a result of the nightmares that the chipmunk was complaining about.

Two bunk beds were on either side of the room that Simon entered moments later, three in each set, each bed corresponding with the one across from it in color. Alvin and Brittany had the top bunk, Alvin's being red and Brittany's being pink. Simon and Jeanette had the middle bunk, Simon's being blue and Jeanette's being purple. And finally, Theodore and Eleanor had the bottom bunk, Theodore's being a dark green and Eleanor's being a light lime green. Simon scurried up the bedposts before crawling over to his pillow. He was about to lay his head down until his ears twitched upon hearing an unnerving, heart-stopping statement.

"Stop hitting me. Please, stop hurting me. I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry."

Simon's heart skipped a beat as he realized that the voice had been above him, telling that the voice belonged to no other than Alvin Seville. This thought caused him to feel nauseous at the thought this brother was actually talking this way. He gulped, contemplating whether or not he should try to comfort Alvin. He wasn't too surprised that Alvin was being disturbed by a dream he was having. Aside from hearing Alvin cry, Simon had also heard Alvin whimpering and letting out soft cries of discomfort while he squirmed and thrashed about in his sleep.

Simon closed his eyes and eased his breathing, calming himself to listen to what his heart told him to do. It wasn't long until he heard a still, small voice tell him, "Comfort him. He needs you." This was more than enough to convince Simon to scurry up to Alvin's bed. His breath caught when he saw Alvin violently tossing and turning in his sleep, letting out soft whimpers of pain while doing so. The red-clad chipmunk tightly gripping his tail by the tip and wrapping it around himself, as if this would help him. The thumb of his other paw was stuffed in his mouth. Simon actually had to giggle at this sight. It was quite cute. Still, he didn't like seeing his older brother suffer, especially when he was in a dream that he couldn't break free from. This thought provoked Simon to begin shaking his older brother in order to wake him up.

Simon was knocked back on his rear end as Alvin's head collided with his own. Apparently, Alvin's dream must have reached its peak that caused the chipmunk to dramatically wake up from his nightmare in the middle of the night, but luckily without the screaming, but unfortunately not without the crying. Sitting up while rubbing his head, Simon was taken aback to see his older brother crying into his folded arms that were resting across his knees, his body shaking like something fierce. Simon was about to turn around until Alvin suddenly lunged at him, knocking him onto his back while his nightshirt was coated in fresh tears, the wetness of which soaked through the fabric to his fur. Surprised by this sudden action, Simon was at first unsure of how to respond. His brotherly instincts took over and he lovingly wrapped his arms around Alvin, gently patting and rubbing the distraught chipmunk's back, pushing them both up into a sitting position while Alvin continued to bawl, not that Simon minded. He just hoped that Alvin's crying didn't disturb anyone else.

Too late. Out of the corner of his eye, Simon saw Brittany rubbing her eyes while she sat up.

"What's going on?" she sleepily demanded.

Simon shook his head. "It's nothing, Brittany. Alvin just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep."

"Since when does Alvin have bad dreams?"

"Good night, Brittany!"

She grumbled and flopped back down on her bed, turning on her side, pulling the covers up to her chin, her back turned towards the two brothers, Alvin's cries of sadness still echoing off the walls and filling her ears.

While he realized that his older brother was definitely in need of some comfort, Simon's foremost concern was getting Alvin's breathing under control, les he ended up choking himself to death on air. The chipmunk's sobs came out in short, ragged gasps that sounded almost frightening. Simon patted his brother's head, gently pulling away. However, Alvin's grip on his clothing was so tight that the older chipmunk's claws were practically digging into his flesh underneath. "Alvin . . .," he groaned. "Alvin, let go!"

"No, no, no, no, no," Alvin cried in between sobs, tightly clinging to his younger brother. "Just . . ." He snuggled close to his brother, nuzzling his face in Simon's tear-soaked shirt, wrapping his little chubby arms around Simon's slim waist. "Just . . . just hold me for a while."

Simon didn't have the heart to abandon his older brother. He simply nodded and agreed to the arrangement by saying, "Okay, Alvin," and began rocking Alvin back and forth, humming a lullaby. This method seemed to calm Alvin down immensely. At least his breathing was back to normal, although he would let out a choked-up hiccup every once and a while. Simon couldn't help but smile as Alvin began sucking on his thumb, eyes closed as he breathed through his nose. Despite that he was slowly falling into a state of sleep, Alvin's grip on Simon remained surprisingly strong. To be perfectly honest, Simon didn't mind in the slightest, although his arms were starting to get sore from holding the overweight chipmunk for such a long, extended period of time.

With a finger, Simon reached down and lightly tickled his older brother protruding belly, an action that caused one of the chipmunk's legs to kick and an involuntary giggle to escape his mouth. Bending low, Simon planted a tender kiss on Alvin's forehead before tucking him back into bed. He was about to scurry down to his own bed until he stopped and looked over his shoulder at Alvin. The chipmunk had rolled over onto his side, tail wrapped around his middle, him still sucking on his thumb. Simon suddenly had the uncontrollable urge to stick by his older brother, just in case he had yet another bad dream. Without fighting it, he crawled back over to Alvin, burying himself in the covers before crawling back up and resting his head on the pillow, wrapping an arm around Alvin and pulling his older brother close into a tight but warm, loving embrace. He hoped that this would help Alvin sleep better. God knew that the chipmunk could use a decent night's rest. Planting another soft kiss on the back of Alvin's head, Simon snuggled close to his older brother and prepared to go to sleep.

Alvin seemed to be in a better mood over the past couple of days. Surprisingly, he felt like spending more time with Simon. However, his mood didn't change his seemingly insatiable appetite, for which Simon thought that maybe he should talk to Alvin about. Why no one else had done so, especially Dave, Simon had no clue. He had thought that either Brittany or Dave would have been the first to bring it up, but it was perhaps because neither one of them could think of a way of doing it without hurting the fat chipmunk's feelings. That was Simon's problem. He was brutally honest, especially towards Alvin, and in doing so he accidentally ended up hurting Alvin's feelings. He hoped that such was not his intention. He hoped that Alvin knew that he meant well. He just had a hard time getting his words in the right order to where they weren't as offensive. He hated seeing his older brother in such hurt and pain like he was now. While he was certain that feelings couldn't actually kill a person, Alvin bottling up his emotions as he'd always done was slowly but surely killing him through his appetite.

The sudden shift in Alvin's appetite and weight certainly was scary. Alvin had never been the binge eater that he was making himself out to be. He would usually eat until he was full, but now it seemed as if his stomach was incapable of feeling full, eating until he was full to bursting, usually ending up with a severe stomachache, nothing that an afternoon nap couldn't cure. His sudden cravings for chocolate and other fattening foods like peanut butter was also a dramatic change that seemed to have occurred overnight. It could have been building from weeks of watching Theodore and Eleanor stuff themselves, or it could have been a direct result of the depression that Alvin was going through. Had Simon had to choose, he would have chosen the latter, but he wasn't about to completely rule out the former.

Simon should have guessed that Alvin's good mood wouldn't last. Before long the chipmunk was roaming about the house (just barely, mind you, due to his short legs) while sulking, an ugly picture to all those involved, especially since the picture was the broken remains of a once healthy, athletic, ambitious chipmunk. The chipmunk walking around the house now was nothing more but a lazy, fatter version of Theodore, although Simon had to admit that Alvin did look quite cute when a set of very chubby cheeks.

Simon went back to Dave's study to work on his plan for Alvin while the aforementioned chipmunk was in the kitchen busy stuffing himself with a jar of peanut butter. Theodore had been pestering him about it for the past couple of days, wanting to know all the details. It was hard to get irritated at the youngest chipmunk. Simon knew that Theodore's heart was in the right place, as it usually always was, and that the little guy simply wanted nothing more than to help their older brother, but Theodore's constant wondering what Simon's plans were was steadily starting to get on Simon's nerves. Again, he couldn't remain mad at Theodore for pestering him, knowing that Theodore was just desperate to get Alvin the help he needed. Counseling would be at the top of the list, for both him and Dave, so that the two of them could work out the bugs and whistles of their relationships. The first and foremost thing that Alvin needed to realize, Simon knew, was that Dave didn't hate him like Alvin was constantly telling himself. What Dave needed to do, Simon reasoned, was show love towards Alvin more like he did with Simon himself and Theodore. No wonder Brittany had said, "He certainly loves Simon and Theodore."

After yet another restless night of pondering it over, Simon thought that maybe he had the perfect plan. Of course it would involve getting Alvin's stomach involved. Nowadays it seemed as if the only thing Alvin cared about was food and how much fatter he would get. There was a piece of chocolate cake still left in the fridge that would be perfect for the job, provided that Alvin hadn't scarfed it down already. It was a high possibility that the red-clad chipmunk had since he spent a majority of his time in the kitchen scarfing down every bit of food he could get his paws on.

Theodore walked in the kitchen, anxiously waiting to hear Simon's latest idea of how to solve Alvin's problems with Dave. Glancing around the room, it didn't take him long to spot Alvin. The red-clad chipmunk's huge rear end and tail were sticking out of one of the cabinets that he was rummaging through. The red-clad chipmunk popped out of the cabinet only to scurry up to the counter and begin rummaging through the cabinets above him. Theodore took a step forward. "Um . . ., Alvin?"

Without looking over his shoulder at his brother, Alvin barked, "What?"

Theodore cringed at his older brother's sharp tone. He watched as Alvin angrily slammed the cabinet door shut and went onto the next one. "What are you looking for?"

This time Alvin actually looked down at his younger brother, an agitated look on his face. "Twinkies!" His eye gave a twitch and that was the last that Theodore saw of him as he went back to looking through the cabinets, this task being hard to do due to how much his stomach had outgrown his legs.

While he was grateful that Alvin was fatter than him, thus making him no longer "the fat one," Theodore realized that Alvin wasn't in his right state of mind and therefore, was in no way acting like his old self. The chubby chipmunk was almost afraid to go near Alvin when the fat chipmunk was eating like a pig, fearful that Alvin would either bite his head off or cover him some substance and then lick him clean. Theodore chuckled at the thought of the latter. He would probably enjoy it, actually, but wasn't about to suggest it to Alvin, who was far too busy trying to find his treasured snack cakes to listen to him. In honesty, talking to Alvin had been the sole reason for coming in the kitchen. Theodore figured that if Alvin was anywhere, it was definitely in the kitchen. The kitchen seemed to be the only place anyone could find Alvin anymore. "Um . . ., Alvin?"

Alvin let out an exasperated sigh and turned his head to look down at his brother so quickly he heard his neck give quite an audible snap. "What?"

"Can . . . Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Once again, Alvin let out an annoyed sigh. His precious Twinkies would have to wait. With much difficulty, he scampered down to the floor. Folding his arms, he fixed his brother with a glare while he stood in front of him. "What is it? Make it quick. I'm hungry." At this, his stomach gave an audible growl, as if to drive the point home.

"Alvin . . ." Theodore wasn't entirely sure of how to start off the conversation, or how to say what he wanted without hurting Alvin's feelings.

Alvin's expression softened. "What? What is it?"

_This is going to be harder than I thought, _Theodore reasoned. He turned to Alvin. He would have no choice but to brutally, if hurtfully, honest with his older brother. "We haven't been on stage or in the studio for weeks on end, Alvin."

Alvin spotted a half-eaten candy bar lying on the floor. Stooping down as best he could, he picked it up and began nibbling on it. Shrugging his shoulders at Theodore's statement he said, "Yeah, so? The way I see it, it's just given me more to put on a few pounds." He smiled and lovingly patted his large belly.

"Well, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Theodore admitted, rubbing his neck. "Back on the island . . . I mean, look at you. Sure, you were pretty decent back then, but now? Well, you've gotten really fat for one thing, and your fur's always a mess. Now I've been keeping quiet about it, but I gotta tell you, you've really let yourself go."

Gritting his teeth in anger, Alvin took a menacing step towards his brother. "What's your point, Theodore?"

Theodore took a cautionary step back, as if afraid his older brother would strike him across the face at any moment. Then again, ever since they'd gotten back home from the International Music Awards, Alvin had been acting out of character that hardly anyone was able to recognize him nowadays. "Well, it's just . . . we're all worried about you, Alvin, especially me. You're . . . You're not well. You need to see a doctor."

"Hmph!" Alvin smacked Theodore's paws away as the little chipmunk reached out to lovingly grasp his hands. "Bull! I'm fine."

"You call this 'fine?'" Theodore shrieked, pointing to Alvin's protruding belly.

"You're just jealous," Alvin reasoned. He took another bite out of the candy bar, letting out an audible moan of pleasure as he chewed, his body shuddering as the pleasurable sigh rumbled through his short, fat furry body.

"Of what?" Theodore was utterly confused about what Alvin could possibly mean. "Alvin, seriously, you need help. I'd start with a dietician."

Alvin glared at him yet again, placing his paws on his fat hips. "Well, look who's talking!"

Theodore yet again took a step backwards, shaking, his eyes wide with fear. He bit his lower lip. Perhaps he should hightail out of the room while he still could before he ended up making the situation worse than it already was. No, he needed to say what needed to be said. If he didn't, then he would probably end up regretting it. "Alvin, just please, think about it. You're not yourself. Even I can see that."

Alvin turned around from him, arms folded across his chest, candy bar limply dangling from his paw. "Just go, Theodore. Leave me alone." His long tail swiftly swished at the air.

Theodore sighed. "Okay, Alvin, if that's what you want." Sadly, he turned and walked out of the room, his tail sadly curling around his ankles.

Alvin turned his head to look over his shoulder, watching his little brother go before returning his attention back to his prized candy bar. Screw the Twinkies. He had chocolate! Hungrily, he tore off a chunk of the tasty treat, cramming his cheeks as much as possible with the chocolatey goodness that the treat provided, instantly becoming comforted by the food.

Theodore found Simon in Dave's study. Either he must have been getting really good at stealth or Simon was so busy that the blue-clad chipmunk didn't hear him come in. Either way, Simon jumped as Theodore's tail came into contact with his own, causing the blue-clad chipmunk to spin around, leading him to fall back on his rump in the process. He was helped up by Simon. "Sorry about that, Simon."

The blue-clad chipmunk readjusted his glasses. "It's fine, Theodore." He glanced down at his little brother, a look of sadness coming over him as he saw the expression on Theodore's face. "Hey, you okay?"

Theodore shook his head, slowly turning away from his older brother. "I think I might have ticked Alvin off."

Simon sputtered his lips. "What else is new?" He went back to the plan he'd been working on before Theodore had interrupted him.

"I tried talking to him," Theodore continued, as if he hadn't heard Simon's comment at all, "but he just lashed out at me. Maybe it was something I said."

Simon raised his head, his curiosity aroused. "What did you say to him?"

"I just told that he's gotten really fat all of a sudden and-"

"Theodore," Simon groaned. "Yeah, comments like that are going to piss him off."

Theodore nodded. "I know that now. I just suggested that he contact a dietician and he told me to leave him alone."

Simon crept up closer to his little brother, slowly sitting down beside the green-clad chipmunk and wrapping an arm around him, pulling him into a tight embrace, the little chipmunk resting his head in his lap, pillowing his head on an outstretched arm. "What was he doing when you walked in?"

"Looking for Twinkies," Theodore responded, so quietly in fact that Simon had to strain his ears just to hear the whole sentence. "God, I'm so worried about him, Simon."

Simon nodded and patted Theodore's head gently. "Me, too, little brother. Me, too."

Theodore sat up and stared Simon directly in the eyes, making the blue-clad chipmunk a little bit uncomfortable. "So, what's our plan?"

Simon stood up, full of energy now. He raced back to the paper, Theodore hot on his heels. "I've only worked out the beginning, but I think I've got it all thought up. Using the chocolate cake in the fridge, we'll lure Alvin into a deserted room where Dave will be waiting for him. You'll feign a broken leg to get Dave into the room. You stall him for as long as possible. As soon as Alvin's in the room, we dash out and lock them both inside. We won't let them out until they have a good, long talk."

"I'm not comfortable tricking Dave like that," Theodore admitted shyly.

Simon stopped and stared at his little brother. "Ah, I know, Theodore, but this is for Alvin's own good. Believe me, he'll thank us one day."

"Either that or roast us and eat us." A twinge of fear was present in Theodore's voice during this statement.

Simon pulled Theodore into a tight hug. "Don't' worry, Theodore. Alvin wouldn't do that to us."

"I don't know, Simon. You didn't see the way he was glaring at me moments ago."

"Alvin's not himself, Theodore. Once he gets himself back on track and get out of this funk he's in, he should be acting like his normal self, although I must say, I wouldn't mind him keeping his new look." A guilty smile played across his furry face.

Theodore chuckled at this, pulling away from Simon's embrace to glance up at his older brother. "I know what you mean. Alvin may be so fat he can barely walk, but to be honest, I like this new look on him."

"I don't need the word 'cute' thrown in to be reminded of how you feel about his weight gain," Simon reminded his little brother. "Trust me, it's not a pretty image. I don't know if I could handle the idea of the two of you . . . you know, being mates and whatnot."

Theodore glared at his older brother. "Seriously, Simon?"

"S-Sorry," Simon sputtered.

"So, is that the plan?"

"So far."

"It doesn't seem right to trick Alvin with the cake and not give it to him. It would be fairer to let him have the cake as a reward for going through with the whole thing. You know how much he's come to love chocolate, despite how unhealthy it is for him."

"Yes," Simon agreed, adjusting his glasses, " but only after the whole thing's said and done."

Theodore nodded his head in agreement. "Agreed."

"Great!" Simon eagerly clapped his hands together. "So, we'll begin the plan tomorrow. Dave's off work that day. Here's how you'll do your part, Theodore . . ."

Simon thrust open the bathroom door, stepping out with a small washcloth draped around his neck, wearing his traditional blue hoodie. Twirling the washcloth in a circular motion, he strolled down the hall, whistling a happy tune to himself, his other paw stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie.

"Ow!"

Simon stopped and turned around to see Alvin tightly clutching his eye, from which tears were streaming down his face. Apparently, the corner of the washcloth had poked the fat chipmunk in the eye, and quite painfully from the looks of it.

"Watch it, would ya?" Alvin barked hatefully.

"Are you all right?" Simon inquired, completely ignoring Alvin's angry outburst. "Here, let me see." He gently removed Alvin's paw to glance at the chipmunk's left eye. "Hmm, I don't see any damage. You should be fine." He smiled down at his older brother and patted his chubby left cheek. He suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. "Hey, do I smell donuts?"

Alvin perked up. "Donuts?" He sped off down the hall.

Simon sighed. There went his good mood. Until Alvin had showed up, he had been in a very high-spirited good mood about today. He shook his head and rolled his eyes, appalled by what a pig Alvin had become. He didn't whistle a happy tune as he made his way down the hall towards the stairs, his ears twitching as they picked up the distinct sound of Alvin's voice. When it came to food or girls (more so to food as of late), the chipmunk ran like a freaking cheetah. When it came to anything else, the chipmunk moved at a snail's pace. Simon descended the stairs, taking one at a time, not wanting to slip and seriously injure himself. In one of the rooms on the first floor of the house, Brittany, Jeanette, and Theodore were getting ready to enjoy a morning of nothing but cartoons. Eleanor, Dave, and of course Alvin were in the kitchen eating breakfast. Feeling hungry, Simon decided that he would join them. What could be more filling than a fattening, sugar-filled donut? Then again, he was the rational, logical one. He would probably opt for a piece of toast with some strawberry jam, a more healthy breakfast than a donut!

As usual, Simon was greeted by Eleanor and Dave, whereas Alvin was too busy eating to even acknowledge his brother. Simon ignored Alvin's absence of a greeting and strolled over to the counter, yanking down the bagged loaf of bread. Upon doing the tie, he selected at least two pieces of bread and popped them into the toaster that was conveniently placed beside the coffeemaker, pulling down the lever, thus turning on the heaters. Tapping his foot patiently with his arms folded, he decided to make polite conversation with the others while he waited, which unfortunately didn't last too long because as soon as the conversation was starting to get good, the now toasted pieces of bread shot up from their slots, ready to be buttered or jammed or what have you. Dave was courteous enough to jam Simon's toast for him, for which Simon made sure to thank him for the gesture before beginning to eat, his eyes, without him realizing it, drifting over to Alvin almost constantly. He let out a groan of disgust. How Alvin had gone from a healthy, athletic kid to a binge eating pig was beyond his reasoning. He instead focused on his toast and politely requested that Dave fix him a glass of orange juice to wash it down with.

Surprisingly, both Alvin and Simon managed to finish their breakfast at the same time. While Alvin wiped his mouth on the back of his paw, Simon went for a napkin to daintily wipe his mouth on the corner of a napkin, only to have the moment ruined by a rather loud burp from Alvin, but the interruption was quickly ridiculed by Dave. Alvin simply ignored the lecture on good table manners and hopped down to the floor, exiting the room with an amazing amount of speed despite his weight gain. Simon was quick to follow him, but both parted ways as they reached the top of the stairs. Alvin went towards the bedroom (Simon assumed that he was merely heading in that direction to play video games or watch television) while Simon himself headed towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. He wasn't too surprised to find Theodore already doing so. While the chubby chipmunk wasn't very good at personal hygiene when it came to staying fit, Theodore was quite good at maintaining dental hygiene to where his exams at the dentist were passable. Simon's, on the other hand, usually received the compliment that his teeth were quite healthy. Alvin's teeth were another story. Usually, the chipmunk had a cavity or two to be filled in.

From the bathroom, Simon could surprisingly hear the girls chatting amongst themselves while they got dressed and Alvin requesting that they be quiet so he could hear his program. A smack indicated that Brittany had slapped him upside the head. A loud thud, followed closely by a lot of gibbering and yelling indicated that a fight had broken out among the two. At this, Simon shook his head. It was so like Alvin to attack someone simply for hitting him for being rude. The chipmunk had never found anything wrong with what he did, just like he didn't find anything particularly wrong with binge eating and letting his emotions get the best of him like they had been for the past couple of weeks.

In silence, Simon and Theodore brushed their teeth, both spitting out their toothpaste at different times, but both reaching for a corner of the towel on the towel rack to wipe their mouths off, followed by their toothbrushes before each put theirs in the toothbrush holder that rested beside the soap. They smiled at each other, both in anticipation for what was to come for Alvin, before dashing out of the room and running down the hall to see if either one of them could cool things down in the bedroom.

It was worse than either one of them thought. Jeanette and Eleanor were trying to keep Alvin and Brittany separated while both of them made futile swings at the air in an attempt to land a punch. Eleanor practically had Alvin in a stranglehold while Jeanette was practically crushing Brittany's lungs. Elbowing each of their captors in the stomach, both Alvin and Brittany lunged for each other. Seeing the sudden danger, Simon launched himself forward, arms outstretched. As he neared his targets, he closed his paws on each of their clothing, bringing them close to himself. He skidded to a halt, all three of them breathing quite heavily, Brittany and Alvin more so than Simon himself. Unlike Alvin and Brittany, Simon had an angry expression on his face. He glared at both of them before bellowing, "Stop it! Both of you!" He turned to Alvin. "You come with me!" He turned to Jeanette and Eleanor. "You two, deal with this one!" He thrust Brittany forward, still gripping Alvin by the scruff of the red-clad chipmunk's neck in his left paw. Irritably, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, Alvin still being tightly held in his grasp. The fat chipmunk squirmed and kicked in a futile attempt to get away or at least be put down. Simon had to admit that having Alvin's feet constantly kicking him in the cheeks was quite irritating, but not enough to where he was about to let Alvin go. The red-clad chipmunk couldn't be trusted. He knew exactly what would happen. As soon as he was put down, Alvin would run off, leaving Simon to chase after him, and a stressful game of cat-and-mouse would ensue until either Alvin got too tired to run anymore from being too fat to do so or Simon eventually gave up on the matter.

"Put me down," Alvin demanded angrily, the soles of his feet pelting Simon's furry cheeks. "Right now!"

Merely just so he could get Alvin to shut up, Simon decided to give Alvin what he wanted. Gently, he set his brother down on the floor, but still maintained an annoyingly tight grip on the fat chipmunk. Given how fat he'd gotten, Simon didn't think it would take him long at all to catch Alvin, nor would it take long at all for Alvin to get tired. He wasn't too surprised by the fact that Alvin swatted at his paws angrily to get him to let go, but he flat-out refused to do so.

Alvin growled hatefully as he once again attempted to pry Simon's paw off the hood of his hoodie. "Would you . . . would you let go already?"

"No," Simon replied defiantly, "I'm not letting you leave!"

Alvin sighed. He didn't like the idea that came to his mind, knowing that he would regret it later, but if it would free him from Simon's grasp, then the idea was worth it. Without warning, he lunged for Simon's paw, his tiny teeth digging into the flesh underneath. The trick worked brilliantly! Simon let out a high-pitched yelp of surprise and pain and jerked his paw away from Alvin to examine the damage caused by the bite. While worried that he had hurt Simon in the process, Alvin couldn't help but a little happy that his plan had worked, even if it had cost him.

"Is your gluttony so endless that you're resorting to nibbling on me?" Simon asked, glaring at his older brother. "If you're that hungry, why don't you literally chew on your own butt?"

"You know, a lot of people get sexual pleasure that way," Alvin noted. "I've never tried it." He suddenly turned around and got on all fours, lifting his tail and allowing it to rest along his back, exposing his posterior to his younger brother, much to Simon's disgust. He looked over his shoulder at Simon, grinning. "What do you say, Simon? Go on, give it a little nibble."

"No!" Simon bellowed. He flipped Alvin onto his back.

Alvin remained enthusiastic, however. He got to his feet and shrugged his shoulders, walking until he was behind Simon. "Okay." He lifted his brother's tail and bent down to examine the younger's posterior. "I could nibble on yours, if that's what you want?" He felt Simon's tail smack him across the face. He shot up, rubbing his sore cheek while groaning in pain. He took a few steps backward as he saw Simon's piercing glare.

"Would you knock it off?" Simon demanded angrily. "I want to know what you and Brittany were fighting about."

"Simple. She called me a fat pig and I attacked her for verbal abuse."

"Alvin, it's not verbal abuse if the statement is true."

Alvin's ears flattened against his head. "W-What do you mean?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? You've really let yourself go these past few weeks."

"You know, you're starting to sound like Theodore."

Simon took a step forward and gently placed his paws on Alvin's shoulders, taking time to notice that the older one flinched upon contact. "Alvin, it seems to me like you're trying to get somebody's attention. Am I right?" He cupped a paw underneath Alvin's chin and tilted it up so that the two of them were staring each other directly in the eyes. "Am I right, Alvin?"

Alvin shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his arm, looking away. "You could be . . ."

"What's bothering you?"

Simon's tone was so full of genuine concern and care that he sounded almost fatherly to Alvin. He shrugged his shoulders.

Simon let out an aggravated sigh. He was pretty much fed up with trying to get Alvin to talk. He was about to resort to abuse in order to get Alvin to talk. The moment this thought entered his brain, he immediately rejected it, realizing that abuse would get him nowhere. He didn't want to end up traumatizing Alvin and making the red-clad chipmunk fear him. He knew that Alvin seemed most relaxed when he was around food and in a pleasant environment like the kitchen. Perhaps if Alvin was busy eating, he would be more inclined to talk to Simon. "Hmm," he pondered to himself. He looked down at Alvin. "I have an idea, Alvin. Why don't we go to the kitchen and get something to eat?"

"But we just got done eating breakfast," Alvin reasoned.

Simon chuckled and playfully poked Alvin's enormous belly. "Oh, it's not like your belly can't handle a little more food. If you get any fatter, you won't be able to get out of bed."

Alvin chuckled himself and playfully swatted Simon's paws away, allowing him to pat and rub his protruding stomach lovingly.

The pair started off down the stairs in silence, Alvin lacing his fingers around Simon's and holding his paw tightly.

"Uh, Alvin . . ." Simon muttered, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh." Alvin suddenly seemed to realize that he was holding Simon's paw. Apparently, he had begun to do so without realizing it. "Sorry, but I just wanted to thank you for comforting me the other night. Thank you, Simon. It really means a lot to me." He nuzzled his cheek against Simon's arm.

"Uh . . ." Simon wasn't entirely sure how to react to how affectionate his brother was being with him. He put an arm around Alvin and pulled him into a close hug. "You're welcome, Alvin."

Alvin let out a happy sigh, enjoying the softness of the fleece of Simon's hoodie. "Your hoodie is so . . . soft!"

"Uh . . . okay. Are you . . . are you hungry?"

"I guess I could go for something to eat."

The pair continued walking, this time with Simon holding Alvin's paw. The comfort that this action brought the both of them, especially Alvin, felt nice. The times when they weren't fighting and were genuinely getting along were quite pleasant not only for them, but for all those involved as well. Sadly, these few times that they actually got along were very rare. Any other time, they would be arguing and ready to rip each other's heads off. Listening to the two bicker and argue as much as these two did, one would never guess that they were brothers, much less relatives for that matter.

"Okay, Alvin, what are you in the mood for?" Simon inquired as the two of them strolled into the kitchen. He knew that he should have been bidding Alvin to go talk to Dave, but as far as he was concerned, that could wait a while longer. It wasn't as if Alvin was going to have the sudden urge to off himself any time soon. Based on the way his older brother had been talking, Simon didn't guess that Alvin had the energy to do so. Besides, it would require some assistance since he'd gotten so fat lately that he could barely climb the stairs without having to stop multiple times to catch his breath.

Alvin shrugged his shoulder, rubbing one arm individually as he glanced around the room, involuntarily smacking his lips in the process. "Anything sounds good at the moment. What about you?"

"I could go for a little something myself," Simon admitted as he began rummaging through the cabinets. "Hmm, now let's see . . ." He suddenly jumped banging his head on the shelf above him as a high-pitched shriek emitted throughout the household. Rubbing his head, he stepped out and glanced up at the ceiling. Based on the voices he was hearing, he realized that his plan had been set into motion. Eating would have to wait for now. Rushing over to the kitchen door, he could see that Dave was already practically tripping over his feet as he raced up the stairs. Without hesitation, he followed the caregiver, not once giving any thought to Alvin. The soft footfalls that Simon heard behind him that his older brother was hot on his heels. He couldn't help but grin at this fact. So far, his plan was working perfectly . Any moment now Alvin would find himself locked in a room with Dave to confront whatever demons the fat chipmunk was currently battling with.

"Theodore, what happened?" Dave sounded worried, a fact that Simon took pride in. He and Alvin hurried in the room going through Dave's legs.

On the floor, Theodore was lying on his back, surrounded by the Chipettes while he tightly gripping his right ankle, his now small rear end when compared to Alvin's stuck in the air while his tail swayed back and forth against the carpeting of the room.

"I think he broke his ankle," Jeanette cried. "We need to get him to a hospital."

"What happened is what I want to know," Dave replied.

"Oh," Jeanette nodded her head, "right. Well, we were playing with the hackysack. Theodore tried catching it, but he bumped into the table," she pointed to the table that was behind Theodore's head, "and the lamp fell. I think it might have crushed his foot." The broken pieces of the lamp were scattered throughout the area that they were in.

Stooping down, Dave attempted to take a look at Theodore's foot, but the chipmunk swiftly turned away. He sighed. "Theodore, I can't help you if you don't let me have a look at your foot. Let me see."

Unsure of what to do at this point, Theodore glanced over at Simon who merely nodded, telling him to go along with it. Without objection, he brought his foot forward so that Dave could examine it.

"Why don't you go help Dave, Alvin?" Simon suggested. He tried pushing his older brother forward, but the portly chipmunk remained rooted to the spot, as if someone had nailed his feet to the floor. Grunting, he shoved Alvin forward, causing the overweight chipmunk to almost fall face-first into the carpeting. He quickly ran forward to catch Alvin to prevent his older brother from falling. Although his brother had been a ghastly overweight, lazy prick, he still cared and loved his older brother, just as he always would, no matter what. Leaning forward, he whispered in Alvin's ear, "What's wrong with you?"

"What if I do something to make him mad?" Alvin hissed back.

"Alvin, just try your best," Simon replied. "That's all anyone asks of you." He gently pushed Alvin forward to prevent another incident like the one before. This time, Alvin seemed to do better at keeping his balance.

"Can I help?" Alvin inquired, looking up at Dave with a hopeful look.

Dave nodded. "Okay, sure. Go to the bathroom and get the first-aid kit."

"We'll wait outside," Brittany said, nodding to her sisters and Simon. Leading the way, she walked out of the room with Jeanette, Eleanor, Simon, and Alvin behind her. "We'll wait here for you to get back, Alvin."

Alvin gave her a nod and he scampered down the hall.

"I think I can walk on it," Theodore said.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked. "I don't want you putting any unwanted pressure on it."

"Can I at least try?"

Simon nodded to Brittany and Eleanor, signaling for them to go in the room. With the two of them being the strongest out of the three, it would be quite easy for them to carry Theodore out of the room. He watched as the two of them scurried into the room and gently picked Theodore up and carried him out, setting him down on the floor outside the bedroom door, "So Alvin doesn't have to travel so far with that heavy first-aid kit," Simon explained to Dave.

Alvin returned shortly with the first-aid kit, dragging the medical equipment box by the handle, grunting and groaning along the way, looking like he was about to pass out from exhaustion. He reached the bedroom door and collapsed on the floor, his protruding stomach heaving in and out as he let out low, heavy breaths. "I think . . . I'm going . . . to pass out!" Without warning, he was heaved up by Brittany and Eleanor and thrown into the room. Before he could even react, the bedroom door was slammed shut by Jeanette and locked tightly by Theodore and Simon.

"Hey, what the . . ." Alvin looked around the room wildly for any indication of what had just happened but finding none.

Dave attempted to open the door, only to find the unmoving knob indicating that the door was in fact locked. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, guys, open the door. Simon? Theodore? Anyone? Open the door."

"Not until you and Alvin have a nice, long talk," Brittany informed him. She had to admit that she and Eleanor were quite surprised how easy it was to lift Alvin up and toss him in the room as if he weighed nothing, despite how grotesquely fat he'd gotten.

Alvin swallowed hard. He should've known that it would have come to this, with the constant flow of questions about what was bothering him and why he'd been so isolated from the rest of the family as of late. He just hoped that the "nice, long talk" went over smoothly, a lot better than in his nightmares. He stood perfectly still, mentally humming a happy tune to himself while he tried to block out the arguing that was going on between Dave and the other five chipmunks on the other side of the door. The method seemed to be working, as he wasn't aware of what either party was saying, much to his relief. It was only when he felt a pang in his arm that he glanced down and slowly pulled back the sleeves of his hoodie, revealing the large amount of scars that had been implanted in his flesh as a result of him cutting himself, seemingly constantly. The only upside to this was that it had made him feel better and had made the nightmares seem all the less painful. He quickly yanked down the sleeves of his hoodie and darted his eyes up to Dave when the man cleared his throat. His eyes watching Dave's every move, he watched as the man walked across the room and sat down on the side of his bed. As Dave patted his knee and requested for Alvin to come over, he did so obediently, without question, turning about so as to make sure that he and Dave were looking at each other in the face, although this was quite painful on Alvin's part and he had to choose to ignore the pleasurable feeling that ran through his body as he enjoyed the fabric of Dave's clothing rubbing against his posterior.

It took a while for Dave to get started, probably because he had never dealt with the situation that he found himself in before. For the longest time, he stared down at his son, so much to the point where Alvin actually had to turn his head and look away due to discomfort. Finally, he spoke. "Simon and the others seem to think there's something that might be bothering you. They think that you're depressed, maybe even suicidal."

Alvin blinked at the final word: _suicidal_. True, he had been thinking about it almost constantly, but hopefully had never uttered the word in his sleep or without realizing it during the daytime. If he had, then he was dead meat! They would most likely put him in a mental ward to make sure he wasn't suffering from any mental disorders. He wasn't sure if it were so, but some doctors would probably consider depression a mental disorder.

"And, quite frankly," Dave continued, "I'm getting worried about you myself."

Alvin glanced up at him. "Why?"

"Well, you're . . ." He struggled to think of a way to put his thoughts into words so as not to offend Alvin. The last thing he wanted was to come off as being offensive, knowing very well that him being offensive wouldn't get them anywhere and would more than likely cut their conversation short. "You've been eating like crazy and you've been putting on weight by an astonishing rate."

"Hmph!" Alvin stubbornly turned his back on his caregiver, hatefully folding his arms and staring daggers at the wall across from him. "So I've had a change in appetite and I've put on a few pounds. So what?"

"You've been having frequent mood swings, most of them quite violent," Dave pressed on.

"What you're describing, Dave, is called a period, something the girls get every month," Alvin argued bitterly. "Funny, you don't say anything to them."

"Watch it!"

Alvin fell silent.

"You've been doing poorly in school. Even your grades in music haven't been up to par as of late."

Alvin said nothing.

"You've been shirking your responsibilities and chores here at home. You pretty much do nothing anymore besides eat and sleep around the house."

Here, Alvin spun around and glared up at his father figure. "What is this, a lecture? _Now _you're giving me a lecture? Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you're the oldest, Alvin. You've got responsibilities now, and you're just gonna have to face them."

Despite his hateful attitude, Alvin was quite taken aback by the gentleness of Dave's tone with him. He must've had a look of surprise on his face because Dave asked him, "What?" He merely shook his head and replied, "Nothing," before turning his gaze down to his furry feet. Mind you, not that he could actually see his feet due to his rather enormous stomach. He poked it in a sad manner, realizing that the others were in fact right. He was allowing his depression to take over his life, and all because he had allowed the voices in his head to deceive him into thinking that he wasn't love when he very well was. Why else would his friends and family go through this elaborate charade just to get him and Dave in the same room together so they could talk? Their actions surely had to be done out of love and nothing else. Still, Alvin would have felt better had he actually heard the words from Dave's mouth. If he wished for that to happen, he would have to completely ignore the demonic voices in his head and concentrate solely on Dave's words. He would have to choose his own words wisely so as not to offend his caregiver or start a heated argument, much like he did with Simon, much to his dismay.

Alvin's mind traveled back to the day on the island on which they had finally escaped . . .

" _Okay," Alvin declared, "Brittany and I will build the deck. Eleanor, you need to start braiding ropes. Jeanette, find as many coconuts and mangoes as you can. Who knows how long we'll be out there?"_

"_What can I do to help?" _

_Alvin's heart stopped, his ears twitching when they picked up the distinct sound of a familiar male human voice. Slowly, he turned to see Dave standing just behind him, watching as Eleanor cried, "Dave!" and Brittany and Jeanette went running to him faster than Alvin had ever seen them run. He, on the other hand, stayed put, merely based on the fact that he was still convinced that Dave hated him and had merely come to rescue the Chipettes and his brothers and leave him to burn to death by the burning lava that was currently spewing out of the active volcano. _

"_We missed you so much," Brittany informed Dave as she snuggled into the fabric of his jacket. _

"_I knew you would find us," Jeanette added. _

_Dave looked down upon hearing a distinctly painful, "Ow." He watched as Eleanor hobbled forward, using what appeared to be makeshift crutches. "Eleanor, what happened?" _

_The makeshift crutch on Eleanor's right side fell to the ground and she, to the best of her ability, attempted to pick it up while glancing up at Dave and her sisters, saying, "Oh, you know, just a zip-line accident." _

_Dave fixed the chubby Chipette with a perplexed look. "A what?" _

"_I'm fine," Eleanor reassured him quickly, still trying to grab hold of her crutch. "It just hurts when I try to explain it." _

_Dave shook his head. "Okay, you know what? Never mind. The important thing is that you guys are safe." It was at this point that he finally looked up and made eye contact with Alvin. _

_The red-clad chipmunk swallowed, his line of vision darting from Dave to nowhere in particular, and back to Dave before he finally turned his back on the others, paws folded at his chest, his heart hammering, echoing in his ears, while a million thoughts and feelings raced through his mind all at once. It was quite overwhelming, to be exact, so much to the point where Alvin was having trouble keeping track of which was which! His tail slowly curled around his feet, he trying to fight the tears that threatened to seep through his tear ducts. There were two distinct emotions that were ever so clear to him at the moment: sadness and fear! These two single emotions were filling him up to the point where he was sure his mind would explode due to it being overstuffed with them, not to mention the demonic voices in his head filling his head with a million unwanted thoughts and feelings that were only making him feel worse by the minute. _

_Dave gently set Jeanette and Brittany down on the ground, standing up afterward and walking towards Alvin, a worried look becoming evident as he noticed that Alvin, for some odd reason or another, had his back turned to him. "Alvin?" He received no response from the little chipmunk as he continued to walk towards him, making him all the more worried about what could be bothering him. When he reached the stump on which Alvin was standing on, he stooped down so that he was eye-level with Alvin. Surely sooner or later the little chipmunk would have to turn around and face him. "Everything's gonna be okay." Still, no response. Now he was desperate. Despite that he knew that Alvin probably wouldn't tell him what was wrong, he decided to go ahead and ask anyway, just to give Alvin a chance to get whatever it was off his chest. "Hey, what is it?" _

"_I thought you'd never find us," Alvin said sadly, head still hung. "That you weren't even looing." His back remained turned to Dave. _

"_Why wouldn't I look for you?" _

_Slowly, Alvin turned. "Because I'm such a pain in the-"_

_Dave sighed. "Alvin . . ." _

"_I know, you don't think I'm a pain." He rubbed his arm and looked away. _

_Dave shook his head. "No, you're a pain. But I'd come, no matter what." _

_For the first time since Dave had come onto the scene, Alvin finally smiled. He took a few steps forward, his arms outstretched, and his smile grew wider as Dave picked him up and embraced him. Letting out a shaky breath, he nuzzled his cheek against Dave's shoulder, doing everything he could to enjoy the hug as much as he could. Without realizing it, he closed his eyes and allowed the pleasant feelings to overtake him, driving away the demonic voices and any unpleasant thoughts or feelings he'd been suffering from earlier. Somewhere, he heard the Chipettes all give a chorus of, "Awww . . ." _

The hug had in fact felt quite nice, but hadn't reassured Alvin of anything regarding Dave's feelings towards him. If anything, Dave at least liked him, but did Dave actually love him? If Dave did, Alvin honestly didn't see how or why the human would, considering all the trouble that the rowdy chipmunk had caused the man, not to mention also to his brothers and, more recently, the Chipettes. In all honesty, Alvin hoped that his rebellious and rambunctious side was just a childish phase he was going through. Hopefully, in time said phase would be only a memory, one of which he didn't want to follow him into his adult years. God knew he would never forgive himself if he did something purely out of impulse that he would regret.

That was it! He just suffered from impulse control disorder! No wonder he was always getting himself and everyone he loved and cared about in trouble! It was merely because he acted on impulse instead of stopping and thinking about things like Simon did. It was for this reason why his younger brother was always put in charge whenever Dave left the house, because Simon, unlike Alvin himself, actually used his common sense. It seemed as if everyone in the household except him had some form of common sense. Apparently, he was born without it. Surely it had to be inside him somewhere. It was just a matter of reaching deep inside himself to find it. Once he'd obtained it, he hoped that he would be able to control the uncontrollable impulses in his brain.

When he thought about it, that could have been the reason why he'd been binge eating nonstop for the past few weeks since they'd been home. The impulse to stuff himself was unfortunately extremely strong and quite unbearable at times. The only people who could probably understand what this was like were Theodore and Eleanor, but the others wouldn't understand, especially not Simon or Brittany. Well, maybe Simon since the younger chipmunk wasn't as stuck-up as Brittany. If Simon sensed that Alvin was being genuine in his explanation, the blue-clad chipmunk was more inclined to believe him. Brittany, on the other hand, would more than likely say that Alvin was just being a fat pig just for the sake of being rude and obnoxious, or she would say that he was jealous of what a cute butt Theodore had. The thing that scared him was that the latter was unfortunately true.

"Alvin?"

Said chipmunk looked up at Dave.

"Did you hear me?"

Ashamed that he hadn't been paying attention, Alvin shook his head, looking down at the floor, afraid to look up at Dave's disapproving stern look. He was surprised when he didn't hear an exasperated sigh escape Dave's mouth, causing him to glance up at his caregiver.

"Would you mind telling me what's been bothering you?" Dave inquired.

Upon this question, Alvin felt like his stomach was being mercilessly squeezed to death to the point where he had the uncontrollable urge to vomit. Writing down his thoughts and feelings in his journal was one thing, but to actually ask Dave whether or not the human actually loved him or not was out of the question! He was quite embarrassed about the fact that he didn't know this. He felt as if he should have known this already, like it should have been hardwired into his brain years ago when Dave had first taken them in. Then again, Dave had merely taken them in so they could help him with his music career. Along the way, however, the trio and the human had come to see each other as "family," Theodore's seemingly favorite word. It had been exactly this bond that the trio and the man shared that had caused Dave to rescue them from the island in the first place. Unlike Ian, Dave had actually taken the time to get to know them each individually, taking time out of his busy day to schedule times in which he could interact with each chipmunk one-on-one. These one-on-one moments with Dave had been quite a special time for each of them, especially for Alvin since he, like his brothers, felt like he could be himself around Dave. He didn't need to be scared to say what was on his mind. So, why was he so suddenly terrified of saying what was on his mind now? It wasn't as if Dave was going to chastise him for thinking such a thing or beat him for it, although his nightmares in which such a thing occurred quite frequently almost caused the chipmunk to bolt for the bedroom door and pound on it and scream and shout at the top of his lungs until the others let him out. If he did that, he would surely be chastised.

Outside the bedroom door, Simon and Theodore were playing Go Fish with the Chipettes. One of them let out a yawn, silencing it by waving their paw in front of their mouth.

"Got any threes?" Theodore dully asked, quite bored like the rest of them.

"Go fish," Simon mumbled monotonously, momentarily taking his paw off his deck of cards to rub his left eye before letting out a yawn.

"How long is this going to take?" Brittany demanded as she pouted, crossing her arms while a sour expression came over her face. "It's been over ten minutes! How long are they going to spend talking?"

Simon shot her a death glare. "As long as it takes." There was a bitter tone to his voice that even caused him to be taken aback. He blinked, turning his head away from Brittany's own angry look to watch as Theodore drew a card from the deck lying in between the two of them.

Alvin let out a breath. Closing his eyes, he told himself mentally, _You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. _He let out a whine. _Mm, I can't do this. _Opening his eyes, the first thing he spotted was the bedroom door that was directly in front of him. He knew the temptation it possessed and he once again had the uncontrollable desire to run towards it and pound and scream until he was let out. Why was this so difficult? Why? It wasn't as if he and Dave hadn't had man-to-chipmunk talks before this specific encounter. Why was this one any different? It wasn't, he realized. There was no need for him to be scared out of his wits about this situation. Still, no matter how many times he told himself this over and over and over again, a mixture of dread, worry, and ultimately fear would sweep over him, threatening to rock him backward and knock him to the floor. Surely it had to be either Satan or one of his demons trying to get to him. That was the only thing he could think of. Surely these horrible thoughts he was thinking weren't his own. He had always been the optimistic one. It wasn't like him at all to think horrible, depressing, suicidal thoughts like he had been. He thought that maybe these exact thoughts were the link to the nightmares and horrid images he'd been seeing in even his most pleasant of dreams at night. Closing his eyes, his mouth barely opened as a mumbled a prayer, mentally recalling how Christ had promised His disciples before He had left them that He was always with them. Surely that applied to him too, didn't it? Surely God had abandoned him right when he needed Him, had He? Certainly not! What he needed to do, he realized, was tell Dave how he felt and leave the situation to God. His heavenly Father would see to it that the situation resolved itself and came out with a peaceable solution. It may not have been the solution that Alvin liked, but at least he would feel better and could hopefully stop constantly beating himself up. He hoped that the nightmares and unnerving thoughts would cease. The only thing he didn't hope would stop was his improved appetite. He actually liked eating until he was too full to eat another bite. He actually liked having a large, round belly and quite a big rear.

Once again, Alvin let out a breath, this one a lot more relaxed than the previous one. Glancing up at Dave, the gentleness etched on the man's face told almost instantly that the man would never get mad at him for sharing his heart with him, just as God would never get mad at him for telling his heavenly Father how he felt about something. It was this feeling that finally propelled Alvin to clearing his head of any other thought besides pouring out his heart and soul to his father. It would without a doubt make him feel better and his feelings towards Dave would be out in the open so the two of them could work on them. All he wanted was to be reassured that Dave loved him just as much as his heavenly Father did. If he had that, then he could hopefully sleep peaceably tonight.

At long last, Simon and the others finally heard conversation being made between the man and the chipmunk. Discovering that the voices were extremely gentle and not interrupting, they gave each a smile and a nod.

"Come on, guys," Simon suggested, motioning for the others to follow him, "let's give these two some privacy. Our work here is done."

Following the others, Theodore lightly gripped his stomach. "Hey, is anyone else hungry but me?"

"I could go for something to eat myself," Brittany noted. "Any of you?"

"Yeah, I could eat something," Jeanette agreed.

"Why don't we make something special for lunch for Alvin?" Theodore suggested. "Make him feel better? Or, it could be to congratulate him on finally sharing his feelings."

"I think the latter would be more appropriate," Simon replied, descending the stairs with the others following closely behind him. "You know as well as I do, Theodore, Alvin has never been one to share his feelings." He chuckled. "I guess it's true what they say. If you keep your feelings bottled up inside you, they'll make you sick."

Theodore suddenly stopped and looked back up at the stairs that he'd come down. "Shouldn't we wait for Alvin outside, in case he needs any emotional support or something?"

"Dave's with him," Eleanor reassured him. "I'm sure he can handle things if Alvin starts getting emotional." She gently took her lover's paw and led him the rest of the way down the stairs.

Dave and Alvin spent over an hour and a half talking, Alvin doing more of the talking than Dave. Every now and then he would abruptly stop and ask if he was talking too much, to which Dave usually replied that he wasn't and urged the chipmunk to press onward. Throughout the entire conversation, Alvin really felt like Dave was actually paying attention to everything that he was saying. Instead of simply nodding his head and going "Uh-huh" or "I see" every so often, the man actually repeated most of what Alvin said to confirm that he was hearing the chipmunk correctly and would try his best to connect with Alvin on an emotional level, like saying, "I can imagine why you would think that" or "I can imagine why such and such would make you feel that way." During the extensive talk, they both came to a compromise: In exchange for Alvin doing some extra chores around the house, Dave would try to spend more time with him so that Alvin didn't feel as if the man was being more affectionate towards the others and not him. Of course, Dave would make time for the others as well so they didn't feel left out or feel like Alvin was getting more attention than them.

Throughout the rest of the day, Alvin appeared to be in a much better mood, more upbeat than he had been in weeks. He agreed to do some exercise to lose a little bit of weight, but no one had a problem with him being a cute little chubby furball. He was careful to watch how much he ate at lunch, but couldn't keep himself from turning down something sweet for dessert.

Alvin let out a yawn later that evening as he headed down the hall towards the bedroom, clothed in his pajamas. Reaching behind, he scratched at an itchy spot on his lower back, smacking his lips as he went. It wasn't until he heard Simon calling for him that he stopped and turned, although he was in no particularly mood to be stopping. He just wanted to get to bed and get some sleep. After the long day he'd had and the energy he'd spent talking to Dave, he was bushed! Nonetheless, he decided that it couldn't hurt to see what Simon wanted. With that, he descended the stairs and stood on the bottom step, standing before Simon. Yawning and stretching, he mumbled, "What do you want, Simon?"

"I hoped maybe you'd be in the mood for something to drink before going to bed," Simon told him.

Alvin rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Thanks, Simon, but you know I've been having problems with staying dry at nighttime."

Simon nodded. "Oh, I know, but I also know that you've been having a particularly hard time sleeping at night. I thought maybe this would help."

Alvin dully shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, what the heck? What could it hurt, right?"

Simon joyfully took a swing at the air. "That's the spirit! Now come on!" Without waiting for a response, he dashed in the kitchen, scampering up to the counter. Hearing some groaning, he turned and grabbed Alvin's paw, helping the bloated chipmunk onto the counter. He waited patiently for Alvin to catch his breath. He let out an amused chuckle as Alvin flopped down on his back, his big stomach heaving.

"Oh, God," Alvin panted. He rested his paws on his stomach, smiling as they sank into the softness that his belly provided. "I'm getting too old for this."

"No," Simon corrected gently. Chuckling, he playfully poked at Alvin's enormous stomach as he said, "You've just gotten too fat." He chuckled once more, allowing a paw to sink into his older brother's belly. He let out a happy sigh. "Mm, your belly is so . . . soft."

Alvin laughed. "Well, that's a least one benefit from being overweight." He patted his overstuffed stomach lovingly. "Having a nice, soft, big, squishy belly."

"That could explain why Eleanor and Theodore are always using their stomachs as pillows."

Alvin smiled at the thought of Simon doing the same with his. "You have to admit, they do look quite cute that way."

"And you look cute this way," Simon admitted, rubbing his older brother's abdomen.

Alvin stretched out a paw. "Now . . ., could you help me up . . . please?"

Smiling, Simon grasped Alvin's paw and, grunting, heaved his brother to his feet. He stumbled backwards as Alvin collided with him. Gently, he pushed Alvin away and watched as his older brother turned to the only object on the counter. He laughed when he saw the perplexed expression on Alvin's face.

"What, uh, what is that?" Alvin wondered out loud, pointing to the doll-sized baby bottle in front of them. Despite its size, it contained just as much milk as an average-sized baby bottle.

Simon smiled. "Well, I noticed that you were having trouble sleeping, so I took the liberty of fixing you some milk."

Alvin smiled as well. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, Si, but . . . , why in a bottle?" He chuckled. "You might as well diaper me while you're at it."

Simon enjoyed the mental picture that came to mind with this statement, but unfortunately wouldn't be able to find a diaper in Alvin's size. Diaper companies didn't make diapers for little chipmunks, or quite fat chipmunks for that matter. It was even a miracle that he'd even found a nursing bottle that was just right for Alvin. "It's simple, Alvin. It's just that I figured that this would be easier for you to drink out of."

"But we always use straws."

Simon nodded in agreement. "True, but all the ones I could find were dirty or had been chewed on."

Alvin looked away in embarrassment. His eating habits had gotten so out of control as of late that he'd resorted to chewing on inanimate objects. He remembered when he'd been having a violent mood swing, how he'd viciously gnawed on the walling of the house, tearing off a large chunk of which and chewing on it, his chewing purely fueled by his anger.

Simon walked over to the baby bottle and picked it up, walking back over to his older brother, who had an unsure expression on his face.

"I don't know about this, Simon," Alvin admitted. It surprised him how in tune he was with his feelings ever since his talk with Dave. "What if the others see?"

"If you're worried about anyone making fun of you, don't be," Simon said gently, completely understanding Alvin's position. "Alvin, we're your family. No one is going to rattle you, and if they do I'll handle them. You just concentrate on enjoying yourself."

"No offense, but I don't see how being bottle-fed is enjoyable."

Simon smirked. "Have you ever tried it?"

Alvin rubbed his neck, looking away. "Well, no . . ."

Simon nodded. "Exactly!" He beamed and leaned forward, shaking the bottle in front of Alvin's face. "Come on, why don't you at least give it a try?"

Alvin couldn't help but allow a little smile come across his face. "Okay."

"Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable? I think the hardness of the counter would probably be most uncomfortable, don't you think?"

Alvin nodded in agreement and took Simon's free paw, slowly but surely leading him down to the floor and up the stairs, still feeling uneasy about the situation that he found himself in. He liked the fact that Simon cared enough about his well-being that he had gone through all the trouble of fixing him something that would hopefully help him sleep, but he still wasn't comfortable about being bottle-fed, especially by his younger brother. He swallowed hard as he thought about the others teasing him, calling him a baby and suggesting that they dress him up like one as well. He shook his head, driving the thoughts away. Like Simon had said, they were his family. Deep in his heart, he knew they would no such thing as teasing him. If anything, they would find the image of Simon bottle-feeding him quite cute and knowing Eleanor and Theodore, the two of them would probably request that he do them next, and Alvin couldn't help but smile widely at the mental images that this thought produced.

He gulped, hearing the distinct chitter-chatter of Theodore and the Chipettes in the bathroom while they were busy getting ready for bed. At least they were anywhere else than the bedroom right now. For now, he was safe. He just hoped and prayed that the others didn't make such a big deal out of him being bottle-fed. He knew Brittany would; the others wouldn't dare say or do anything that might upset him. Sure, he was a prick more often than not, but they all still loved and cared about regardless of this fact.

He shuffled his feet across the carpet, enjoying the comfort and softness that it brought against the soles of his feet. He tightened his grip on Simon's paw, feeling a bit sick at his stomach as they neared the room. He wasn't particularly sure why, though. It wasn't as if he were about to be electrocuted in the chair or be tried for some heinous crime.

The two finally entered the bedroom, with Simon leading the way, Alvin following so close behind him that if the former stopped Alvin would surely bump into him. They scampered up the later, darting past the gap of space that lied between the end of Alvin's bed and Simon's. Simon crawled over to a comfortable spot on his pillow, turned around and sat down, criss-crossing his legs in the process. Smiling at Alvin, he motioned for the fat chipmunk to come closer.

Instead of walking, Alvin actually got on his paws and knees and crawled over to Simon, lying down in his younger brother's lap. He smiled. He had to admit that the position that he found himself in now was quite comfortable, to be perfectly honest. He gulped as Simon proposed the bottle to him, the white liquid inside it draining into the nipple. After some coaxing from Simon, he finally opened his mouth and allowed Simon to slide the nipple inside. His paws gripped the upper part of the bottle and his mouth got set to work with sucking on the nipple. His face lit up in surprise at tasting the warm, sweet liquid. A huge grin came across his face and he began sucking more urgently, one of his legs giving an involuntarily kick out of the pleasure he was receiving.

Simon smiled. "See? I thought you you'd probably enjoy it, although you should probably slow down. I don't want you getting choked."

Alvin nodded and obediently lightened up on his sucking, closing his eyes and allowing the feelings of contentment and happiness overtake him. His smile widened as Simon began rocking him, his mouth stuffed with warm, sweet milk. He felt his tail begin to thump against Simon's thigh. Luckily, the younger chipmunk didn't appear to mind in the slightest. He let out a happy sigh when Simon began singing to him.

"_Baby mine, don't you cry_

_Baby mine, dry your eyes_

_Rest your head close to my heart_

_Never to part, baby of mine_

"_Little one, when you play_

_Don't you mind what they say_

_Let those eyes sparkle and shine_

_Never a tear, baby of mine_

"_If they knew sweet little one_

_They'd end up loving you too_

_All those same people who scold you_

_What they'd give just for_

_The right to hold you_

"_From your head to your toes_

_You're not much, goodness knows_

_But you're so precious to me_

_Cute as can be, baby of mine"_

As he ended the song, Simon planted a tender kiss on Alvin's forehead, continuing to rock the smaller chipmunk while he continued to drink. The rest of the feeding was spent in silence, aside from Simon's humming, which seemed to bring his older brother into a deeper state of peace, a look that Simon took immense pleasure in. At long last, he finally pulled the nipple out of Alvin's mouth. To his surprise, he practically had to pry it away from Alvin's paws, as if the littler chipmunk didn't want the feeding to end. He smiled at this. Apparently, Alvin had enjoyed the feeding a lot more than he thought he would.

Lifting Alvin up by his armpits, Simon rested Alvin along his body, the littler chipmunk's head resting on his shoulder as the taller one patted his back in an attempt to make him burp. Alvin let out a surprisingly small burp, then let out a sigh and rested his head on Simon's shoulder, sticking his thumb in his mouth and sucking on it, the wet noises of his sucking being the only noise being uttered other than Simon's humming.

Simon rocked Alvin back and forth, his lullaby being the only thing filling the red-clad chipmunk's ears. In time, he felt Alvin's arm fall limply to his side, telling him that the chipmunk had fallen asleep and had in turn stopped sucking on his thumb. Still, Simon continued to rock him, watching as the Chipettes and Theodore entered the room and climbed into their individual beds. Simon realized that he had one of two options: He could either wake Alvin up and make the chipmunk go sleep in his bed. Or, he could let Alvin sleep with him. He chose the latter, not having the heart to wake his older brother up from such a peaceful slumber.

Carefully, Simon drew back his covers and slid down into them, resting Alvin on top of him with the chipmunk's head resting on his chest. Lovingly, he petted Alvin's head, his fingers gracefully grazing over the individual hairs on the older chipmunk's head. Leaning forward, he planted another kiss on Alvin's head, pulling back to whisper, "I love you," in Alvin's ear. He smiled as the chipmunk's ear twitched upon his breath making contact with it. He nuzzled his nose along Alvin's cheek. "Sweet dreams, baby of mine." As he drifted off to sleep, he saw a look of utmost peace on Alvin's face, an expression that he hoped would stay with Alvin for a good long while. He fell asleep with that same expression branded in his mind.

**A/N: Yes, I know, this story carried on far longer than it honestly should have, but that's what happens when you don't do an outline to your stories, where you just make up the story as you go along. I think this is why my stories often drag and never really build up to anything. Honestly, I think this might have been why "Demon" was so short, only lasting four chapters. I didn't really plan out the story and I simply wrote it due to being in the spirit of Halloween. Afterward, however, I lost interest in the story and ended it so abruptly. **

**Yes, I know, the religion thing wasn't necessary and I should probably take it out to avoid causing offense to nonreligious folks. Still, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope it was well worth your time. **


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